[R-390] More cleaning tools.

[Mike A]

On Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 11:22:39AM -0500, Tisha Hayes wrote:
> Ooh, I am going to stay away from suggesting appliances for heating up
> radios. I had "an unfortunate incident" when I was a QA engineer on a
> transceiver while we were doing accelerated aging tests. "Someone" was
> surreptitiously using the Russels GB-32 as a pizza-cooker during
> all-nighters and they used the menu to change the temperature scale from F
> to C.
> 
> I did not check (who assumes that people mess with your test gear? I was
> young and naive) and punched it up to cycle repeatedly from -40 F to +149
> F, instead it was going -40 C to +149 C. (300 F). It did the cycle a few
> times and then the monitoring equipment attached to the radio began to cry
> for help. The room was filled with the smell of "hot" and I shut down the
> test to let things cool off.
> 
> The radio was of an unusual size and shape and the only way to fit it in
> the test chamber was diagonally, with one end up in the air. The heat
> warped the plastic case into a banana shape and the circuit boards managed
> to maintain integrity (and functionality) with this strange shape. As
> things cooled the prototype became locked in this new rather melty looking
> form.
> 
> Since this was the only prototype it had to be present at an investors
> meeting the next day. It would not sit flat on the table and looked like it
> was assembled by Picasso

You owe me a new keyboard and cleaning costs for a pair of pants. 

That ... that is a *wonderful* story, though I doubt it was a lot of fun
at the time, and I am fairly sure someone got out the *BIG* reamer after
the meeting. 

Thanks!

Good thing I was sitting down. 

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin